Group Starts Hotline On Manatees

The Broward County chapter of the Audubon Society has established a telephone hotline for the public to call with information about manatees, officials announced Friday.

The 24-hour hotline -- 764-4652 -- will help the group get an accurate count of how many manatees live in Broward waters.

``We want to track the manatees in Broward year-round,`` said Jeanne Wershoven, chairman of the society`s endangered species committee. ``We want to know where they are and when they are here. We do know we have a pretty good-sized population year-round. Now we would like the public`s help in tracking this for us. We want the public to be aware that there is someplace they can go with information.``

Wershoven and her husband, Bob, donate their time to help keep track of the manatees that live in the Florida Power & Light Co. discharge pond at Port Everglades. But the hotline will enable the Audubon Society to make an accurate count countywide, Wershoven said.

``We`re hoping this hotline with information from the public will supplement our information to give a picture of the whole county,`` she said.

Florida Audubon`s Save the Manatee Committee finances aerial surveys over the port, but did not provide for a local manatee hotline. The Broward chapter is donating the telephone, Wershoven said.

Residents who see a manatee should call the hotline and give specific information about where and when they saw the manatee and also describe the animal`s markings. Most manatees have identifiable scars on their backs from boat hulls and propellers. Snapshots also are useful.